Henry a



(No' Model.)

H. A. HOWE.

SPRING BUFFER FOR STREET CARS.

No. 527,203. Patented Oct. 9, 1894.

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UNITED STATE PATENT OFFICE.

HENRY A. HOWE, OF NEW YORK, N; Y., ASSIGNOR TO HIMSELF, JOSEPH LIVINGSTON, ANDALBERT H. GROSS, OF SAME PLACE.

SPRING-BUFFER FOR STREET-CARS SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 527,203, dated October 9, 1894.

Application filed July 2, 1894. Serial No. 516,252. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, HENRY A. HOWE, a citizen of the United States, residing in the city, county, and State of New York, have in vented an Improvement in Spring-Buffers for Street- Oars,of which the following is a specification.

Oity railway cars propelled either by elec: tricity or by cable are dangerous especially in crowded thoroughfares, and the front end of the platform or guard being of rigid material is liable to inflict injury upon a person falling against the same. To obviate or lessen this difficulty tubes of india rubber and helical springs have also been made use of in a variety of ways, but these are not found to present sufficient range of elasticity.

In my present invention I make a spring bufier or guard for the front end of the platform of a compound wound helix; that is to say, the wire helix is wound up in a screw form, the convolutions of the adjacent portions of the helices passing into each other and being held together in a cylindrical form by a wire helix of large diameter passing through the coils of the smaller helix and interlocking with the same so as to make a hollow cushion or buffer entirely of wire and so closely interwoven as to present a large hearing surface to a person who may fall against such bufier and at the same time thewires are so small and elastic as to yield very freely, and the hollow cylinder is of such a size that t a large amount of movement of the wires in springing under the action of a body falling against the buffer, will reduce the risk of personal injury to a minimum.

Inthe drawings, Figure 1 is a cross section of the compound helix. Fig. 2 isa diagrammatic plan view illustrating the manner in which the wire helices are interlaced. Fig. 3 is a plan view indicating the manner in which the compound spring buffer is applied to the end of a car. platform.

Let A represent the end of a car platform or guard of any desired character to which a yielding bufier is to be applied. Sometimes the end of the platform is straight or usually curved to a greater or less extent, as indicated in Fig. 3, and my improved spring buffer is fastened to the front edge of this car platform or guard and extends from side to side thereof, as indicated by dotted lines in Fig. 3.

In constructing the compound spring buffer, I take a long wire helix, say about threequarters of an inch in diameter and with held in position the one to the other by the wire of a helix 0, which large helix is of a diameter slightlysmaller than the external diameterof the small helix as coiled up into a cylindrical form. Hence the wire of the large helix passes inside each coil of the small helix and therefore unites the coils of the small helix as such coils lap past one another, as indicated in Fig. 2. Hence my improved spring buffer forms substantially a hollow wire cylinder, the coiled helices B of which are connected one to the other by the interlaced helix or wire coil C, and thereby a buffor of the desired diameter is formed which is very elastic and at the same time very strong, because it forms a complete spring that presents a large bearing surface to any individual or article falling against the same,

flattened against the spring of the respective wires without the parts receiving injury or losing their elasticity.

The cylindrical buffer formed of the compound wire helices as aforesaid, can be fastened upon the end of the car in any desired manner, but I prefer to make use of the plates D, D, perforated at suitable distances apart along near their edges and bolted or screwed to the platform or guard of the car, and wires F interlaced through the holes in the plates D and around the wires of the helices form a convenient means for fastening the elastic butter in position and at the same time for 2. A spring buffer for street railway cars forme d'of a long wire helix coiled into a cylindrical form and the adjacentinterlocking portions of the small helices held together by an interlaced larger helix, in combination with plates having holes fastened to the platform or guard of the car, and wire laced through the holes and around the wires of the helices for securing the spring buffer in position, substantially as set forth.

Signed by me this 28th day of June, 1894.

' HENRY A.'HOWE.

'Witnesses:

GEO. T. PINCKNEY, A. M. OLIVER. 

